6
Potential Options for the Special Immunizations Program and for Personnel Immunization

The committee outlined several possible options for the Special Immunizations Program (SIP) during its discussions of the structure of the current program, the role of vaccination for laboratory workers, and potential needs and opportunities. On the basis of its analysis, the committee concluded that a cooperatively governed SIP located at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) would constitute the most effective vaccination program for the community of military and civilian personnel who work with hazardous pathogens while continuing to provide a manageable operational structure (see Option 2, below). The anticipated expansion of facilities as part of the National Interagency Biodefense Campus at Fort Detrick—which will include USAMRIID along with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Integrated Research Facility, the Department of Homeland Security National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service and Foreign Disease-Weed Science Research Unit—also strengthen the appeal of this option.

The committee recognizes that decisions on the structure of a program like the SIP must take into account multiple factors, some of which are beyond the scope of the committee’s charge. A discussion and comparison of the options considered by the committee are presented below to help inform further conversations.

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6
Potential Options for the Special
Immunizations Program and for
Personnel Immunization
The committee outlined several possible options for the Special Immu -
nizations Program (SIP) during its discussions of the structure of the current
program, the role of vaccination for laboratory workers, and potential needs
and opportunities. On the basis of its analysis, the committee concluded that a
cooperatively governed SIP located at the U.S. Army Medical Research Insti -
tute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) would constitute the most effective
vaccination program for the community of military and civilian personnel who
work with hazardous pathogens while continuing to provide a manageable
operational structure (see Option 2, below). The anticipated expansion of facili-
ties as part of the National Interagency Biodefense Campus at Fort Detrick—
which will include USAMRIID along with the National Institute of Allergy
and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Integrated Research Facility, the Department
of Homeland Security National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures
Center, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service
and Foreign Disease-Weed Science Research Unit—also strengthen the appeal
of this option.
The committee recognizes that decisions on the structure of a program
like the SIP must take into account multiple factors, some of which are beyond
the scope of the committee’s charge. A discussion and comparison of the op -
tions considered by the committee are presented below to help inform further
conversations.
115

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116 PROTECTING THE FRONTLINE IN BIODEFENSE RESEARCH
TABLE 6.1 Summary Comparison of Options
Greatest
Potential Meet Meet Lowest
Worker Most DOD Civilian Relative Greatest
Option Protection Flexibility Needs Needs Cost Feasibility
1. Status quo ••• ••• •••
1a. Status quo with ••• ••• ••• •••
additional funding
1b. Status quo with ••• ••• ••• •••
separate civilian program
2. Cooperative governance, •••• ••• •••• ••••
based at Ft. Detrick
3. SIP as a central MCM •••• ••• •••• ••••
enterprise component
4. Cancel the SIP •••• ••••
Evaluation scale: least to most effective in meeting the objective—
- - ••• - •••
6.1 OPTIONS FOR THE FUTURE OF THE SIP
In formulating responses to its statement of task, the committee discussed
the implications of several possible options for the SIP program. Criteria on
which these options were evaluated include
• Worker protection. Does the option provide potential protection to
researchers and others who work with hazardous pathogens?
• Flexibility. Does the option allow the program to adapt to meet new
needs and priorities?
• Department of Defense (DOD) needs. Does the option meet the needs
of military researchers and other DOD users?
• Civilian needs. Does the option meet the needs of civilian users?
• Cost. How expensive is the option likely to be in comparison with
other options?
• Feasibility. How feasible does implementation of the option appear to
be in comparison with other options?
Four options and two suboptions are discussed in more detail below, and
a comparison of them is summarized in Table 6.1
6.1.1 Option 1: Maintain the Special Immunizations
Program in Its Present Form (Status Quo)
The current SIP provides a benchmark against which to compare the im -
plications of possible program changes. In its current form, the SIP is operated

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POTENTIAL OPTIONS FOR THE SIP AND FOR PERSONNEL IMMUNIZATION
by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC)
through USAMRIID and USAMMDA, and located at Fort Detrick, MD. The
program provides access to licensed vaccines against six diseases and to eight
investigational vaccines. The cost for each user to participate in the program
is about $10,000–15,000 per year. Approximately 600 participants per year are
enrolled: 395, or about 60%, at USAMRIID and an additional 228, about 40%,
from other DOD units, other government agencies, and external organizations
(Boudreau 2010). The operation of the current SIP is discussed in detail in
Chapter 3.
Worker protection: The SIP as currently conceived provides an additional
layer of biosafety protection for a subset of military and civilian personnel who
work with certain highly hazardous pathogens. Those who are most effectively
covered under the current SIP are those who are working directly with the
pathogens and toxins that are currently included in the SIP and working in
an agency or organization that is able to support the costs of their program
enrollment. The committee noted that participating agencies at the time of the
2004 Homeland Security Council Policy Coordination Committee decision
establishing a cost-sharing arrangement for the SIP estimated that 1,000–5,000
workers in BSL-3 and BSL-4 laboratories might be candidates for occupational
vaccination and that NIAID’s estimated use alone would grow to 1,800 workers
by 2010. In contrast, the committee noted that SIP use has remained relatively
constant since 2004 at about 600 users per year; thus, a number of potential users
are not accessing the current program and there may be insufficient worker vac -
cination coverage of the larger medical countermeasures (MCM) enterprise . That
stasis may reflect such factors as the cost to participate in the SIP program and
a misalignment of the current SIP vaccines with the pathogens and toxins of
most interest to civilian biodefense researchers.
Flexibility: The investigational vaccines currently included in the SIP were
manufactured at the Salk GSD facility in Swiftwater, PA, which closed in 1998.
The current SIP vaccines largely reflect the needs and priorities of historical
DOD biodefense research programs and no new vaccine stocks for the program
are being generated. The committee noted that new vaccines have periodically
been incorporated into the SIP, particularly as licensed products have become
available. The replacement of the previous investigational calf lymph smallpox
vaccine with ACAM 2000 in 2007 is a successful example. A vaccine against
Junin virus, which causes Argentine hemorrhagic fever, also underwent initial
development and human clinical trials at USAMRIID and was produced in
pilot lots by the Salk GSD (Maiztegui et al. 1998). However, the Junin vaccine
was later removed from the SIP because Junin was not considered a threat
of interest to DOD despite its inclusion in the Select Agents and Toxins list,
the NIAID Category A pathogens, and its consideration as an HHS priority
pathogen for countermeasure development. The development and removal of
the Junin vaccine from the SIP appears to reflect a limitation in the current

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118 PROTECTING THE FRONTLINE IN BIODEFENSE RESEARCH
mandate of the DOD-operated program to meet the vaccination needs of both
military and civilian laboratory workers.
The committee noted the recent substantial investments made by the
United States in developing MCM to meet military and civilian needs. However,
military and civilian pathogen research priorities are likely to evolve over time
and are affected by judgments on emerging public health diseases, endemic dis-
eases in regions of potential military deployments, and assessments of probable
bioterrorist or bioweapons threats. The committee is not aware of systematic
governance mechanisms to evaluate the current portfolio of vaccines in the
SIP or of clear processes to add new vaccines in response to shifting military
and civilian hazardous pathogen research priorities. As a result, fundamental
strategic aspects of the SIP program appear to have remained fairly static over
time, despite reviews that have addressed operational needs such as site location
and cost (for example, the 2004 review and HSC PCC decision that did not
explicitly consider future vaccine or manufacturing issues in the SIP beyond
the potential need for production of new clinical lots from existing stocks). The
lack of an established process to allow for program evolution, particularly a
governance mechanism to include both civilian (HHS and USDA) and military
(DOD) stakeholder perspectives, appears to be an important limitation of the
current SIP.
DOD needs: The SIP has historically operated under DOD and its original
mandate was to offer occupational vaccine protection to military biodefense
personnel. The vaccines currently included in the SIP largely reflect that history.
The SIP clinic and operational home for the program remain at USAMRIID
and about 60% of current SIP users are USAMRIID personnel. As a result,
those able to benefit most directly from enrollment in the SIP are USAMRIID
researchers. Although the current SIP appears to function sufficiently in meet -
ing the current needs of USAMRIID and other DOD programs, the committee
noted that this may not remain the case without the ability of the SIP to adapt
and evolve. The DOD mandate is primarily to support the development of
products that will meet the needs of warfighters. The subset of pathogens of
most interest to DOD will continue to include those in the current SIP (such as
Bacillus anthracis, which causes anthrax), but also others, such as Ebola virus,
that are not included in the current SIP. As DOD priorities change and are
subject to the natural emergence of new infectious diseases on a global basis,
and as DOD researchers focus their efforts on the most current high-priority
pathogens and toxins, the ability of the SIP to meet DOD needs as effectively
as it has in the past may decrease.
Civilian needs: The current SIP framework allows civilian personnel to
participate through a cost-sharing arrangement. Civilian researchers thus have
access to the benefits provided by the SIP as long as their agency or organiza -
tion is willing to support the costs of their enrollment. The committee noted
that investments in civilian biodefense research have grown substantially during

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POTENTIAL OPTIONS FOR THE SIP AND FOR PERSONNEL IMMUNIZATION
this period. However, there has not been an equivalent growth in civilian SIP
participation, and total SIP enrollment has remained static at about 600 a year.
That stasis may reflect multiple factors, including the cost to participate in the
SIP program and a misalignment of the current SIP vaccines with the patho -
gens and toxins of most interest to civilian biodefense researchers. Anecdotally,
SIP enrollment costs have discouraged some potential users from considering
participation in the program (Pouch Downes 2010).
Cost: The most important costs associated with the current SIP include
personnel expenses related to clinical trial execution, ongoing medical monitor-
ing and regulatory compliance, vaccine stockpile maintenance and testing, and
facilities expenses. The costs total approximately $9 million a year and each
SIP enrollee is required to pay about $10,000–15,000. The SIP program is not
inexpensive. On the other hand, the investments to maintain the program are
small compared with the substantial amounts of money invested in the overall
biodefense and MCM efforts.
Feasibility: The current SIP is administered from a central location at
USAMRIID. Participants must travel to Fort Detrick for vaccine administra -
tion, although not all vaccines require multiday stays. In addition to on-site
immunization, medical monitoring to document immunologic responses or
to report adverse events is also accomplished by a physician associated with
the enrollee’s home organization. Until 1999, the SIP also included 117 satel -
lite sites. During that period, administration of investigational vaccines to SIP
enrollees was considered to be exempt from Investigational New Drug (IND)
protocol regulations. However, the requirement in 1997 to meet Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) IND regulations would have required recruitment of
co-investigators, training, site audits, medical monitoring, and other measures
that were beyond the capability of the program without major revisions and
increased costs. Because of problems with regulatory documentation and com -
pliance under the former system of multiple sites, the SIP is now operated at
a single site.
The current SIP builds on the history and program expertise housed at
USAMRIID and USAMMDA, which have demonstrated that they have the
operational expertise to manage the program, including administering the
vaccines and maintaining compliance with the IND protocols for the investi -
gational products in use. The requirement to travel to a central location is less
convenient for non-USAMRIID users and contributes to the cost for these
users to participate—a situation that appears to ensure IND compliance but
presents barriers for use by the non-USAMRIID institutions that wish to avail
themselves of the SIP program
Conclusions: The current SIP provides a baseline against which to compare
other possible options. It operates as a small, self-contained program that is
currently not well integrated into other MCM and biodefense investments. It
appears to work most effectively for DOD and USAMRIID workers and for

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a relatively small group of researchers unaffiliated with DOD. However, the
committee was not convinced that the current program has sufficient adapt -
ability to meet new needs and priorities. It is also not sufficiently integrated
into ongoing, strategic discussions of the development and manufacturing of
next-generation MCM, and the mandate and user base of the current program
do not reach many civilian personnel in both the medical and veterinary fields
who work with highly hazardous pathogens and theoretically could make use
of this type of occupational immunization program.
Option 1a: Maintain the Special Immunizations Program
in Its Current Form but with Additional Resources
The committee also considered the potential outcomes if the SIP were
maintained in its current form but were provided with additional financial
resources to help supplement the funds raised by the current cost-sharing
arrangement. Such resources could be used to meet ongoing expenses for
maintenance of the current SIP vaccine stocks, to expand the range of vac-
cine offerings, or to help support SIP enrollment for additional public health
or other civilian researchers who are not enrolled currently due to budgetary
constraints (although this would present additional complicating factors in
prioritizing which potential users would receive subsidized participation).
However, the committee considered that simply adding money to the cur-
rent program fails to address more fundamental needs and opportunities for the
SIP. For example, such a choice fails to provide a path to better integrate SIP
into other biodefense and medical countermeasures development programs and
does not address the need for a SIP governance mechanism of regular strategic
review and program evolution.
Option 1b: Maintain the Special Immunizations Program
in Its Current Form and Encourage the Development of a
Separate Civilian-Focused Personnel Vaccination Program
The current SIP appears to best address the needs of USAMRIID users,
but does not include robust participation from other civilian and public health
workers. The committee also discussed the possibility of two independent
worker immunization programs, an option that was also considered by the
2004 SIP subgroup.
Most of the expansion in research and development of medical coun-
termeasures for civilian use, along with increased capacity for public health
diagnosis and surveillance against highly hazardous infectious diseases, has
been supported by the HHS. As discussed in Chapter 2, the ethical principle of
beneficence supports offering workers the option of immunization, if available,
as an additional layer of biosafety protection to further reduce the risk to which

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POTENTIAL OPTIONS FOR THE SIP AND FOR PERSONNEL IMMUNIZATION
they are exposed when working with hazardous pathogens and toxins. HHS
thus has an obligation to consider the immunization needs of the researcher
community supported by its significant financial investment in these areas. It is
also necessary to consider the needs of the veterinary community (lab workers,
public health personnel, and veterinary vaccine manufacturers), and to ensure
integration of the SIP program with the USDA. The SIP could continue to exist
in its current form to meet the needs of the limited, largely USAMRIID-based,
population who now benefit from it. A fully independent program could be
developed under HHS (and to include USDA) with a mandate to meet the
needs of civilian researchers, some of whom may be working on pathogens
and toxins that are not covered under the current SIP. Although this option
would expand access to personnel vaccination, the committee was concerned
that such an option would lead to an inefficient duplication of resources since
USAMRIID already possesses the knowledge base to successfully operate a
worker immunization program.
6.1.2 Option 2: Institute a Cooperatively Governed
Special Immunizations Program Based at the U.S. Army
Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases
The committee considered whether there were alternative ways to envi -
sion the SIP, and discussed whether these options might address the perceived
limitations in the current program. A reimagined SIP could continue to draw
on the operational expertise and history of SIP management by continuing
to house the program in USAMRIID. To meet the needs of both military and
civilian research communities effectively, however, a more explicit partnership
of shared governance could be developed among DOD, HHS, and USDA.
The governance mechanism would need to incorporate regular review of the
vaccines included in the SIP, periodic assessment of U.S. and international vac -
cines and medical countermeasures reaching such developmental milestones as
IND or licensed status, and recommendations on specific vaccines that should
be added to or removed from the program. For example, an external assess -
ment of the SIP in 2002 suggested that the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention’s (CDC’s) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)
play a role in determining worker immunization policy (Boudreau 2010). ACIP
currently makes recommendations on the use of licensed vaccines, includ-
ing some vaccines of relevance to health-care or laboratory workers, such as
anthrax, smallpox, and Japanese encephalitis, but does not address the use of
vaccination with IND products. The committee judged that a system of broader
stakeholder input into the SIP and shared governance would help to incorpo-
rate perspectives from relevant HHS agencies including NIH and CDC. This
option would focus on the same fundamental mandate as the current SIP but

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seek to recognize and serve the growth in civilian pathogen and MCM research
and engage this community more effectively.
Worker protection: In the near term, this option would provide potential
worker protection equivalent to the current SIP by offering the same suite of
vaccines and operating from the existing offices at USAMRIID. Over the longer
term, the committee concluded, worker protection would be enhanced by this
option. By providing a governance mechanism that engaged DOD, HHS and
USDA and a system of strategic program reviews, the option enables the SIP
to evolve to ensure that it remains aligned with national research priorities and
developments.
Flexibility: The option provides greater flexibility than the current SIP
because of the proposed system of shared governance, review, and oversight.
The committee noted that the current investigational vaccines administered in
the SIP are no longer being manufactured. Although the remaining stocks are
sufficient to meet current demand for the foreseeable future, they may eventu -
ally run low or lose their potency. The current investigational vaccines were
produced with older techniques and more limited knowledge of potential im-
munization targets. As a result, some of the vaccines in the program are more
reactogenic and less effective than other vaccine products available outside of
the United States or vaccine products that may be developed in the future. As
such products are developed, a system needs to be in place to consider whether
they should be incorporated into the SIP; if so, a clear pathway needs to be
established by which to accomplish and fund these acquisitions.
The committee also considered the utility of a limited expansion of SIP lo -
cations to include regional immunization sites (an option that was also proposed
by the 2004 SIP subgroup). The committee suggested that a small number of
satellite clinic locations could reduce travel and costs for other participating
institutions. A limited expansion in close partnership with a central administra-
tion at USAMRIID might avoid the compliance issues previously experienced
with immunizing at 117 locations and increase the flexibility and use of the
program. In the spirit of presenting several possible examples, potential loca -
tions for such satellite sites might draw on the network of Regional Centers
of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases and Regional
Biocontainment Laboratories, or on the eight NIAID Vaccine and Treatment
Evaluation Units, although the committee noted that it would be valuable for
satellite locations to be sufficiently geographically diverse. Another option
might be for SIP personnel to periodically travel to a few regional locations, a
model similar to that used occasionally in outbreak responses.
DOD needs: This option would allow the SIP to continue to meet DOD
needs, and drawing on the current SIP expertise, staff, and facilities through
USAMRIID should minimize disruptions. Ensuring that DOD maintains a
strong voice in SIP planning should also ensure that the SIP vaccinations

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POTENTIAL OPTIONS FOR THE SIP AND FOR PERSONNEL IMMUNIZATION
continue to be aligned with the needs and priorities of military researchers and
others supported through DOD contracts.
Civilian needs: By creating a mechanism for stronger and more direct HHS
and USDA engagement in SIP governance, this option should also ensure that
the needs of civilian researchers are better addressed by the program.
Cost: The program could continue to be operated as the current SIP is
with a central administrative base at USAMRIID and a cost-sharing arrange -
ment among the participating agencies. By providing such agencies as HHS
and USDA with a mechanism for direct participation in program planning,
the option might encourage agencies to be more willing to cover enrollment
costs for researchers supported by them. If expansion to a small number of
regional sites is implemented, costs would probably increase beyond those of
the current program. However, as noted in Chapter 4, there may be additional
regulatory options that could be pursued to enable immunizations off-site from
USAMRIID (for example, with investigator-initiated IND’s cross-referencing a
USAMRIID primary IND).
The committee recognizes that implementing a shared DOD-HHS-USDA
SIP governance system will probably entail costs and challenges and that this
option may be more expensive than the current SIP. For example, there will
probably have to be periodic meetings of a review and oversight board to make
decisions about new SIP vaccine acquisitions or vaccines to eliminate from the
program. If additional vaccines are brought into the program (perhaps pur-
chased from DOD or HHS-contracted vaccine manufacturing facilities), there
will be additional costs associated with administering the vaccines, maintaining
necessary regulatory documentation, and ensuring vaccine supplies. In contrast,
if the program is able to transition to greater use of licensed products (as these
are developed through the MCM research pipeline), there may be lower costs
associated with administration of licensed vaccines and a decreased need to
maintain more burdensome IND protocols.
Feasibility: This option will be more complicated than the current SIP
because of the need for shared oversight by DOD, HHS, and USDA. How -
ever, the committee considered that the current program location at Fort De -
trick provides special advantages that make achieving synergy within the SIP
more valuable and more feasible. DOD and HHS have already increased their
communication and collaboration through the Integrated Portfolio for CBRN
Medical Countermeasures (Newmark 2009). Several agencies are also develop -
ing new facilities as part of the National Interagency Biodefense Campus at Fort
Detrick, which will include USAMRIID and the NIAID Integrated Research
Facility, the DHS National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center,
and the USDA Agricultural Research Service and Foreign Disease-Weed Sci -
ence Research Unit. The committee also noted that certain investigational
vaccines of potential interest to the SIP may be available under IND protocols
maintained by federal agencies outside of USAMRMC. It may be possible to

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124 PROTECTING THE FRONTLINE IN BIODEFENSE RESEARCH
consider cooperative options under which laboratory workers needing an im -
munization for which another agency holds an IND are directed to that agency,
a situation that may be made more feasible if agencies such as DOD, HHS, and
USDA are collaboratively involved in setting the strategic priorities of the SIP.
Conclusions: Although this option suggests the need for substantial changes
in the SIP, the committee concluded that the addition of a more structured
governance system reflecting the needs of both civilian and military research
communities, mechanisms to enable the SIP to evolve as needed and continued
operation at USAMRIID and USAMMDA to take advantage of the administra-
tive history and program expertise offer advantages that could counterbalance
additional cost and logistical concerns. Such an option may offer a feasible
response to many of the current SIP limitations while minimizing program
disruptions and building on momentum generated by ongoing, multiagency
collaborative projects as part of the overall U.S. MCM enterprise. The com -
mittee concluded that USAMRMC may be uniquely positioned to continue to
implement the SIP under these circumstances and that this option could best
meet the ethical obligation to continue offering immunizations to personnel
working with highly hazardous pathogens, to implement a system serving both
the military and civilian user communities, and to establish a system that can
adapt and evolve over time.
6.1.3 Option 3: Position the Special Immunizations Program as a
Central Component of the National Preparedness Enterprise
As discussed above, because the SIP is the vehicle that provides occu -
pational vaccines to personnel who work with hazardous pathogens it sits at
a clear intersection between military and civilian biodefense enterprises. In
addition to the direct potential occupational health benefit that the SIP pro -
vides to researchers who handle certain pathogens and toxins, the existence
of the SIP contributes to the advancement of science in several broader ways.
It is possible to conceive of a SIP that develops those broader missions more
explicitly so that it serves a more central role as a test bed in the overall MCM
enterprise. For example, the ongoing medical monitoring of those who receive
SIP vaccines and the collection of safety and immunogenicity data can be an
invaluable resource for
• Identifying safe products.
• Expanding knowledge about human immune responses to immunization.
• Furthering the development of safe and effective vaccines beyond IND
status (as part of the documentation needed for FDA approval).
• Providing a benchmark of performance for comparison in the develop-
ment of the next generation of vaccine products.
• Gathering data in the event of a need for Emergency Use Authorization.

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POTENTIAL OPTIONS FOR THE SIP AND FOR PERSONNEL IMMUNIZATION
Having a ready supply of vaccines against a variety of Select Agents and
other highly hazardous pathogens also means that immunoglobulin can be
produced by immunizing healthy plasma donors to produce a treatment for
nonimmunized people in the event of an exposure. Key components of a
comprehensive national preparedness strategy include the infrastructure and
human capital to rapidly respond to needs for vaccine and the deployment of
immunized individuals in the event of a bioterror incident. A SIP can provide
a clinical test bed that can help to enable rapid and coordinated responses to
natural and human-made biological threats to national security.
Worker protection: While expanding the mandate of the SIP, this option
would continue to meet its core mission of providing immunizations to at-risk
researchers. As a result, it would continue to provide an equivalent level of
additional potential protection for workers through immunizations as the cur-
rent SIP.
Flexibility: A SIP reconceived as a central component of biodefense and
MCM investments, and adequately supported, would be responsive to the fu -
ture needs of the military and civilian biodefense efforts.
DOD needs: As in other options, the SIP would continue to meet DOD
needs. Ensuring that DOD maintains a strong voice in SIP planning should
also mean that the SIP vaccinations would continue to align with the needs and
priorities of military researchers and others supported through DOD contracts
Civilian needs: As in option 2, a SIP that included stronger and more di-
rect HHS and USDA engagement should ensure that the program meets the
needs of civilian researchers. Such a program would also assure the general
public that the nation is better prepared to address natural and human-made
biological threats.
Cost: Conceiving of the SIP as a central base in the MCM enterprise would
require additional resources for management and administration, implementa -
tion, and coordination. It seems probable that an occupational immunization
program conceived with this type of expanded mission would cost much more
than the current SIP.
Feasibility: The committee concluded that feasibility would be an impor-
tant obstacle to implementation of this option. The existing SIP is designed to
meet a limited set of needs for a defined user community and is not organized
to meet a greatly expanded mission as a central component of the national
MCM enterprise. The mandate of developing, testing, and manufacturing new
vaccines and medical countermeasures also falls to multiple existing and pro -
posed programs. The committee observed that the SIP has never played the
type of central role implied by this option, even within the portfolio of DOD
biodefense programs, and that the SIP has struggled to find sufficient financial
support to maintain even fundamental components such as current vaccine
stockpile management. Over the recent course of its history, the SIP has failed
to generate the enthusiasm that would be needed for it to assume a central role

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126 PROTECTING THE FRONTLINE IN BIODEFENSE RESEARCH
in national preparedness, and the committee judged it extremely unlikely that
the SIP would be positioned to become this type of keystone program now.
Conclusions: The primary mandate of the SIP has historically been and
remains provision of vaccines against a subset of hazardous pathogens to those
personnel who are occupationally at risk for infection. The SIP remains a small
but well-defined component of the overall U.S. MCM enterprise. Over the
previous decade or more of its existence, enrollment in the SIP has remained
at roughly 600 users a year and financial and strategic investments in the SIP
have been limited. Although the additional vaccine safety and immunogenicity
data generated by the SIP, particularly the longer-term follow-up data, consti -
tute a benefit that should be used by vaccine developers and manufacturers to
the greatest extent possible, the SIP is unlikely to be in a position to serve as
an ambitious central test bed for the larger MCM enterprise. The committee
concluded that it is not feasible for the SIP to assume this additional role.
6.1.4 Option 4: Cancel the Special Immunizations Program
The committee considered the question of whether a SIP was still needed
and what the implications of canceling the program might be. It concluded that
cancelling the SIP would lead to avoidable harms.
Worker protection: The SIP maintains, provides, and administers a program
to support the availability of occupational vaccines, which are a key component
of a comprehensive strategy to promote the highest standards in biosafety and
disease prevention safeguards for protecting laboratory workers from the risk
of disease in handling high-risk pathogens. High-risk pathogens can cause
serious, potentially fatal disease through aerosol and percutaneous exposures.
Immunization remains a proven part of an overall protection strategy that
includes engineering control measures, safety training and the use of personal
protective equipment. Despite training in safe laboratory practices, the risk of
needlesticks and exposure to other sharp instruments and injury by laboratory
animals cannot be entirely eliminated and immunization offers a final level of
potential protection for such exposure. As discussed in Chapter 2, offering
personnel who work with hazardous pathogens and toxins the option of im -
munization as a part of a program of biosafety measures remains a standard of
best practice and an ethical obligation. Canceling the SIP would leave a gap in
worker occupational health protection and would probably shift the medical
monitoring currently conducted through the SIP to community physicians or
to occupational health programs at the worker’s institution who are unfamiliar
with the hazardous agents and the vaccine products.
Having a program such as the SIP that provides licensed and investiga -
tional vaccines to individual laboratory workers also provides potential social
and population-level benefits that would be lost were the program to be can -
celed. For example, the committee noted that potential laboratory exposures

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127
POTENTIAL OPTIONS FOR THE SIP AND FOR PERSONNEL IMMUNIZATION
might lead to infections in a worker that could be spread to family members
or to the community. Although uncommon, such a situation is not impossible
and transmission of laboratory-acquired Brucella infection to a spouse has
previously been reported (Ruben et al. 1991). The medical monitoring and
collection of blood samples through the SIP may help to identify asymptomatic
infections, and the safety and immunogenicity data collected through the SIP
might be of use to regulatory authorities both for comparison with newly de -
veloped vaccines and in helping to support emergency use of a vaccine should
such a situation arise.
In addition, a number of publications have resulted from the data collected
by administering investigational vaccines through the SIP. These include stud -
ies to investigate details of the human immune response and mechanisms of
action of particular vaccines (McClain et al. 1998; Pittman et al. 2005b; Fuller
et al. 2007; Rusnak et al. 2011), to examine long-term health trends among
recipients of investigational vaccines (Pittman et al. 2004, 2005a), to analyze
information on laboratory exposures to pathogens (Rusnak et al. 2004a,b), and
others. These studies have provided a wealth of valuable information to the
research community.
Flexibility: Canceling the program represents an inflexible solution to the
limitations perceived in the current SIP. Canceling the program would also
result in a loss of the program operational and administrative expertise housed
within USAMRIID and USAMMDA while failing to provide a pathway for
at-risk personnel working in a biohazardous environment to receive relevant
investigational vaccines.
DOD needs: As discussed in Chapter 2, the committee judged that offer-
ing immunizations to laboratory workers continues to be one component of an
overall biosafety program. Canceling the program would not meet the respon -
sibilities of DOD to offer this additional measure of potential protection to its
researchers working with hazardous pathogens.
Civilian needs: Canceling the program would mean that the needs of civil-
ian researchers who work with hazardous pathogens would not be met.
Cost: The committee was unable to conduct a detailed financial assess-
ment of the benefits provided to workers by SIP immunizations, beyond the
levels of protection provided by other forms of biosafety, compared with the
costs of operating the program. Canceling the SIP is the most cost-favorable
option with respect to direct program costs. Eliminating the program and the
associated IND maintenance and medical monitoring that are required would
save about $9 million per year (see Chapter 3 for discussion of the current cost
structure of the SIP). In contrast, if a hazardous pathogen researcher contracted
a laboratory-associated infection that might have been prevented through SIP
immunization, agencies might face additional costs in treating this infection,
in lost worker productivity, and in reassuring the public, costs that could have
been saved if the SIP were available (the cost of not having a program). It is

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128 PROTECTING THE FRONTLINE IN BIODEFENSE RESEARCH
possible that the loss of this resource would result in a reduction in the coun -
termeasure research enterprise, given concerns about liability among employ -
ers and personal safety among laboratory workers. In addition, the committee
noted that the SIP has value beyond individual worker immunization. The SIP
serves as a resource on safety and immunogenicity information of all vaccines
used in the program. Such data may have substantial value in a future national
biodefense emergency. Publications arising from the SIP have also contributed
to biosafety practices.
Feasibility: Challenging issues that need to be addressed within the current
SIP, such as maintenance of vaccine stocks and compliance with IND regulatory
requirements, could be avoided if the SIP were canceled. Although it may be
feasible or even tempting to cancel the program, the committee concluded that
the issue of the best way to protect the population of personnel working with
hazardous pathogens as part of biodefense, MCM, and public health invest -
ments will remain and must be addressed in some fashion.
Conclusions: As discussed in Chapter 4, the committee noted that access to
the licensed vaccines currently included in the SIP would be possible through
other mechanisms were the SIP to be canceled. However, canceling the SIP
would prevent access to the investigational vaccines it contains, which may
offer an additional level of protection to researchers and remain an important
component of an overall biosafety program. Despite potential cost savings and
the possibility of avoiding challenging strategic questions about SIP gover-
nance and evolution, the committee strongly concluded that this option fails to
meet an ethical duty to provide the option of immunization to personnel who
work with hazardous pathogens where licensed or investigational vaccines are
available. In addition, the SIP remains an essential component of our national
countermeasure efforts.
6.2 CONCLUSION ON POTENTIAL OPTIONS FOR THE SIP
The committee concluded that a cooperatively governed SIP located at
USAMRIID would constitute the most effective vaccination program for the
community of military and civilian personnel working with hazardous patho -
gens while continuing to provide a manageable operational structure.